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When the world No.1 misses the cut in an event he is defending, the media masses descend on him like a pack of shrieking hyenas louping on a limping wildebeest. Rory McIlroy wasn't going to make much of a fuss about it, mind you. "I'm not going to read too much into this," reflected the 26-year-old after making an early exit from the European Tour's flagship event after a tired 78 left him down in the lower reaches on a five-over 149.

It was McIlroy's highest score since he cobbled together a similar card in last July's Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen. Since winning here at Wentworth 12 months ago, this was only his third missed cut in 24 events. In fact he's only missed three cuts in his last 45. At least he gets a couple of extra days to recharge his batteries before he hosts the Irish Open at Royal County Down next week.

McIlroy's recent record in this neck of the woods from 2012 reads missed cut, missed cut, win, missed cut. "I'm sort of back to my usual at Wentworth," he said with a wry smile of a course that has never been one of his happiest hunting grounds.

McIlroy, chasing a third victory in four weeks following successes at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play and the Wells Fargo Championship, was clearly not on full throttle on Surrey soil and fatigue took its toll.

He had expressed his mental frustration after Thursday's opening round when he felt like "he was standing still". The only way he was heading yesterday was backwards. The die was cast on the inward half with a bogey on the 10th and a double-bogey on the next, where he hooked his drive into an unplayable lie and launched another wayward attempt when he had another go at it from the tee. A three-putt bogey on the last summed up the day. "Any time you're defending a title, you want to come back and give it a valiant effort," he said. "This week wasn't really that. I'm not angry, just a bit disappointed."

It must have been an interesting day for Keith Pelley, the European Tour's new chief executive. On his first visit to an event, the Canadian heard some of the big names having a pop at the Wentworth greens and watched the circuit's star attraction depart early. Things can only get better.